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That’s more than you’re likely to pay for a personal loan or a mortgage. And of course, you can shop around for a good deal on those - students don’t have a choice.

It’s no surprise young people are unhappy. And once they quit university they face a future of falling wages, sky high house prices (though the problem is worse in some parts of the country than others) and lack of job security.

Conservative Chancellor Philip Hammond knows there’s a problem. But his response is to tinker around the edges.

Mr Hammond is considering forcing universities to cut fees on courses which don’t offer good job prospects. He’s also suggested fees could be reduced for courses which are cheaper to teach.

Anything that reduces student debt is probably going to be welcomed to some extent.

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But nothing he is proposing is going to convince younger voters - or older voters worried about the deal society currently offers the young - that the Conservatives have a plan to ease their concerns. It’s small fry.

By comparison, Labour offers bold proposals that will make a difference to people’s lives.

Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto included a promise to abolish student fees entirely. The minimum wage would be increased to £10 an hour for anyone aged 18 or over (strictly speaking, to the “living wage” level proposed by academics which is expected to reach £10 an hour by 2020).

Zero hour contracts would be abolished - replaced, one assumes, with actual jobs. There will be a ban on unpaid internships, so people whose parents don’t still support them in their 20s have a chance at getting valuable work experience.

And there will be 100,000 new homes for “genuinely affordable rent or sale”.

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There's plenty of debate to be had about whether Labour's policies are right. For example, increasing the minimum wage for 18-year-olds to £10, from the current rate of £5.60 an hour, is likely to cost a few jobs.

And scrapping tuition fees entirely will cost more than £11 billion a year. That’s more than total government funding for policing across England and Wales.

There’s a case for saying students should pay something, even if it’s less than they pay now.

But what’s undeniable is that Labour is making a big offer to the country.

The Conservatives offer next to nothing. It’s a struggle to think of any substantial policy this Tory government is putting forward that will make people’s lives better.

It’s true that employment rates have continued to rise (although the latest figures actually showed job numbers falling in the North East). But this is not new, and it should be clear to Conservatives that it’s not enough.

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It seems that Prime Minister Theresa May thinks there is mileage to be gained by scaring people about the prospect of a Labour government.

Speaking in Prime Minister’s Questions, she said: “The only people who pay the price for the Labour party are ordinary working families.”

This is clearly meant to be the new Conservative attack line, because later in the same question and answer session Mrs May repeated: “Once again, the price of Labour is pain for ordinary working families”.

But project fear isn’t good enough. The Tories need to offer hope too.

Theresa May appeared to understood this when she launched her campaign for the Conservative leadership with a speech in Birmingham last July. She talked about pushing up wages, keeping energy bills down and helping people buy homes.

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Understandably, at the time, there was very little detail about how she intended to achieve any of this. It seemed that would come later.

But it never did. There have been a few cautious and complex measures, such as telling energy companies to help low-income customers sign up to the cheapest tariffs. But what Conservatives need are big, bold policies they can shout about.

Apparently, Theresa May is going to set out a positive programme for government at the Conservative conference in Manchester in October.